Northern Trust assets under administration up 44%

GLOBAL – Total assets under administration at Northern Trust Corp. rose by 44% to 2.3 trillion dollars in the first quarter, the company said.

And assets under management rose 43% to 521 billion dollars. The Chicago-based company said both figures were records.

Net income rose 35% to 127.5 million dollars from 94.7 million dollars in the prior year period. Revenues from continuing operations rose 14% to 578.2 million dollars from 509.1 million dollars.

It said the revenue rise reflected a 17% rise in trust fees and a doubling of foreign exchange profits to 41.4 million dollars.

Trust fees at its corporate and institutional services arm were up 22% at 166.3 million dollars. Custody fees rose 23% to 65.3 million dollars “reflecting strong growth in global custody revenues”.

The bank said asset management fees rose 20% to 58.1 million dollars.

“We are pleased with this quarter’s earnings,” said chairman and chief executive William Osborn. “This performance was driven by record trust fees, increased foreign exchange profits and continued improvement in credit quality.”

Northern Trust said that following its “strategic business review”, it now has 7,994 employees, down from 8,683 a year ago.